World Boxing Council announces plans to create category for transgender fighters in 2023

The World Boxing Council has announced plans to introduce a category for transgender fighters in 2023, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said Thursday.

“We are going to put out a global call for those who are interested in 2023 and we will set up the protocols, start consultation and most likely create a league and a tournament,” Salaiman told The Telegraph.

“It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion. We have been the leaders in rules for women’s boxing – so the dangers of a man fighting a woman will never happen because of what we are going to put in place,” he said.

“In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change. There should be no grey area around this, and we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions. Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth.”

He continued, “We are creating a set of rules and structures so that transgender boxing can take place, as they fully deserve to if they want to box. We do not yet know the numbers that there are out there, but we’re opening a universal registration in 2023, so that we can understand the boxers that are out there – and we’ll start from there.”

The British Boxing Board of Control confirmed to The Telegraph that they will be examining the transgender policy, as well as a policy requiring fighters to compete as “what you are born as.”